AP: Picking up the pace, President Barack Obama raised $45 million for his re-election bid in February, bringing his total to about $300 million for this election cycle, his campaign said Monday.

Obama stepped up fundraising efforts during the month, collecting nearly twice as much as the $23 million per month average he raised during the final three months of 2011 and more than the $29.1 million he raised in January. The money was spread among Obama’s campaign, the Democratic party and two campaign funds.

Obama’s campaign said nearly 350,000 people contributed in February and the average donation was about $59 for the entire election cycle. Nearly 98 percent of the donations were $250 or less.

Df, Chips would n.e.v.e.r… Even if you asked her to, she would be very doubtful about something as drastic as amk is suggesting! In my later years I am planning to retire into a Buddhist convent (if accepted), have always wanted to shave my head, it will be bliss! No pun intended!

Not sure about the States, but the kids here never seem to realize that the teachers are just as anxious for the break to arrive as they are. Hopefully you don’t have any marking to spoil your ‘fun’. Enjoy your reprieve, teachers. The week will go fast enough

DF, Ceb, Vcprezofan2, Enjoy!!!! I remember those days so well. Relax, and just enjoy each moment. These moments are so much needed, and I want to thank each of you for your hard work and dedication. Bless your hearts. (((((((Enjoy your breaks)))))))))HZ

That’s illegal: one of the attestations when donating is that no one has given you the money. Otherwise large $ donors could skirt campaign limits. SuperPACs are also limited in the sense that they can only accept donations from eligible voters.

This is one of those restrictions that, in this case, irks me this time around BUT is one I totally understand. Each time I wish I could donate, I remember that if it were allowed the little that *I* could donate would be easily offset by other far more wealthy, nefarious foreign contributors for the other side. That thought alone helps to comfort. I hate the thought that rich foreign entities could have a hand in elections in my country, or in America … they probably already have fingers here and there.

Actually there is nothing stopping foreigners from donating to Superpacs since the Supreme Court in its stupidity upheld that the superpac donors need NOT be disclosed. Where do you think Karl Rove is getting his money from?

Speaking of that, I noticed that Chips has modified the right bar AGAIN, by adding direct links to the latest posts on a couple of sister sites. I meant to mention it yesterday but got sidetracked. Chips is always ‘messing’ with this site under the radar!. (Thanks, Gurlie!) :lol:

Morning Chips this news has got to be shouted from the rooftops. This is fantastic news! ACA is amazing. Hope PBO’s campaign team puts a laser focus on this wonderful law.

Almost 4 million seniors saved about $2.16 billion through discounts for their prescription medications in 2011, the Department of Health and Human Services plans to announce today.

“Before, many beneficiaries were forced to stop taking the drugs,” said Jonathan Blum, director of the Center for Medicare. “This reduces costs through better management.”

The 2010 health care law required a 50% discount on prescription drugs in the so-called doughnut hole, or the gap between traditional and catastrophic coverage in the Medicare drug benefit, also known as Part D. In 2012, the coverage gap is $2,930. The Affordable Care Act eliminates the doughnut hole by 2020.

In the first two months of 2012, about 100,000 people have received $92.7 million in discounts — about $904 per person.
In 2010, Medicare sent $250 rebate checks — totaling $846 million — to nearly 3.8 million seniors to try to counterbalance the gap.
The discount “is a very popular part of the Affordable Care Act,” Blum said. “It’s targeted to those most in need.”

They see this President building the foundations and recovery happening across the board. But the more they see these indicators the more they root for the crash. They have an serious urge to say I told you so.

I see Chuck Todd today is going to discuss Obama’s “big donor problems”. A couple of days ago he and others at msnbc were all obsessed about Obama’s “small donor problems”. With the news today, they have had to come to a screeching halt with that theme and make the switch to big donor abandonment. It seems they always have to find some perceived problem re. Obama to blast. I’m not buying this new problem either. PBO can go to almost any city and the $38,500 donors fill the room.

Well, that’s going to be a problem for the ad that the GOP has put out saying that PBO is in bed with Wall Street, which essentially funds his campaign. He’s having a “big donor problem” yet he’s in bed with Wall Street because they fund his campaign.

I refuse to listen to his petty b.s., but I assume he’ll latch onto the fact that there were double the donors in 2008, disregarding the pesky fact that PBO was in a heated primary and fighting for his life at this stage of the 2008 campaign.

There are a lot of regular supporters who are waiting until the general begins for God’s sake.

The point: he’s outraising Mittens with actual people, not billionaires.

good morning TOD family.May God protects;blesses and guides Potus and may his week be great.Mom is going back to work this morning so needless to say I am nervous.That knee is still very painful and she’s limping so her being a chef and having to stand on it for 8 years is worrying me.I am sending good vibes to HZ and all who will have surgeries and if anyone can pass that message to HZ in case she doesn’t log on I’d really appreciate it and to all going through affliction I am sending you support and my prayers as well.Thank you Chips for this site.
Until next time,
Fred ;)

Hi, Fred. Big day…but remember, the Dr. wouldn’t have cleared her to return if he/she didn’t think everything would be fine. She’ll be tired at the end of the day, though. Try and pop in and let us know how the first day went for her…she’ll probably be thrilled to be back doing what she loves to do….and be buoyed by her coworkers. Good luck! You’re a good son. :) How’s the brother doing?

Oh, Fred, I am so grateful to see you here. I have been so concerned about you and Mom. Oh, this is an answer to prayer. You have been on my mind so much, and I have been praying. I asked about you, but we had not heard, however, this makes my day, Fred.

I do not want you to worry about me. I chose to come on because I need the love that is here. I woke up very nervous, but I just was still and prayed for help to get up and face my day. I know how to bring it under control, and with God’s strenght that I have graciously asked for, I know that tomorrow I will do what I have to do.

Now, back to you and your precious Mom. Oh, Fred this is great news and another answer to our prayers. Like Desertflower, I believe the Dr., would not have cleared her to return if Mom was not fine to do that. However, I know that you are nervous, so I will be praying for Mom to be sustained with total strength throughout her day. I hope that those she works with will be gentle and kind as well, so that one I will pray for. Her surroundings will be loving and filled with God’s grace.

Thanks for sharing with us. Will you share(your privacy, I understand), but would you please let us know how we can continue to lift you , your precious Mom up and ask for beautiful gudiance for your brother as well. Be as strong as you can during this time. When it gets to be too much, draw from the ‘past victories’,Fred. I am sending (((((((((((((((((((((((((Hugs filled with special prayers and thoughts to you and Mom)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))) Love you so very much, Fred.HZ

Senator John McCain made his 64th appearance on “Meet The Republicans” yesterday. I would not be surprised to see him filling in for David Gregory the next time he goes on vacation. In the meantime, mavericky Senator McCain, who voted for the Blunt//Rubio amendment, now says the GOP should give up on the contraception fight.

McCain urges GOP to give up on contraception fight

By Steve Benen

========================================

On “Meet the Press” yesterday, host David Gregory asked Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), “Do you think that there is something of a war on women among Republicans?” Instead of saying, “No, of course not,” the senator seemed to implicitly concede the reality of the situation, responding, “I think we have to fix that.”

McCain added that Republicans “need to get off” the contraception issue altogether, adding, “I think we ought to respect the right of women to make choices in their lives.”

This is a reversal for McCain, who voted for the anti-contraception Blunt Amendment a few weeks ago, and never expressed concerns about the effort until yesterday.

He’s a dick. I have zero respect for anyone that calls his wife a cu**. He’s only saying this because he knows it’s a loser, not because he holds any strong belief about women to control their own reproductive health. Maybe he should get on the phone and have a word with the bull goose looney Gov. of AZ and tell her NOT to sign into law the bill that demands women ask permission from their EMPLOYERS to take b/c for other than a medical necessity…and that doesn’t include because they HAVE SEX and DON’T want to have a baby!

A double talker ashole the reason he is changing his tune is that the the Blunt/Rubio amendment
did not passed and a was a big backlash by women and why fucking gregory did not challange this asshole?
SOOO glad he is NOT the President.

I see many tweets today in disbelief that new bill proposal in Tn. would expose the identities of women seeking abortions. All this stuff is out of control. The extreme rt./teabagger faction are going for all the marbles.

Keep in mind…that if this is how the Republicans govern at the state level when they have they control the state government……just think how they would govern at the Federal level if they controlled both houses of Congress and the White House….

As far as I’m concerned, all of print, broadcast and cable are the mouthpiece of the extreme right wing. No honesty, no integrity, just 24/7 GOP propaganda. That’s why I say, put your boots on. This week there will be a focus on ACA because of the 2 year anniversary on Friday and the Supreme Court case on Monday.

This is a fascinating read about Iran’s nuclear program, but with lots and lots of caveats.

IS ANYONE AROUND HERE INTERESTED IN PEACE?

============================================

Call me naive, but what seems to me an important overture from Mohammad Javad Larijani, Secretary-General of Iran’s Human Rights Council and, according to Christiane Amanpour, a key foreign policy advisor to Ayatollah Khamenei, isn’t getting much media attention — certainly way less than all the saber-rattling at AIPAC earlier this month.

In an interview with Amanpour, Larijani said that Iran is “ready to go to full transparency” and allow “permanent human monitoring” of its nuclear sites in exchange for what he called “cooperation.” Here is Amanpour’s summary:
.
.
Looks a little like a coordinate attempt to muffle the drums of war. Cue caveats about my own selection bias and lack of information.

But while we’re arranging the tea leaves for peace, add this claim by Dina Esfandiary at the International Institute for Strategic Studies that Iranian public opinion is turning against the nuclear program.

The media may not be giving it attention but I suspect the President is listening big time and that’s all that counts. Cooperation could very well mean lifting some of those sanctions which are no doubt taking their toll on Iran.

‘The media may not be giving it attention but I suspect the President is listening big time and that’s all that counts’

WORD!

In fact, given the general irresponsibility, lack of nuance, and ignorance of the current media it’s probably a blessing they are not listening. In general all their reporting does is stir up acrimony, so I’ve come to almost ‘appreciate’ their silence on key issues.

Thants ut. This is a perfect example of the mainstream media actively looking for the negative angle on any story about President Obama. That’s why I am so thrilled about “The Road We’ve Traveled” film. It circumvented the media firewall and is approaching 1.5 million views. In 17 minutes, the facts are laid out for the American people. Light bulbs are going off and eyes are being opened. I bet we won’t hear one word about the film from ChuckT because it just doesn’t fit the negative narrative he wants to focus on.

Rick Santorum had a testy exchange Sunday when asked by a Chicago radio host whether his statements about the president and child pornography could be compared to Penn State’s response to sexual abuse allegations against former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky.

Santorum’s campaign website states that President Barack Obama “seems to favor pornographers over children and families” by failing to prioritize prosecution of child pornographers.

“If we were to replace ‘Barack Obama’ with the name ‘Joe Paterno,’ could we say that Joe Paterno seemed to be favoring a child rapist over the Penn State football program?” radio host Bruce DuMont asked Sunday, referring to the former Penn State football coach who resigned after allegations that he ignored reports that Sandusky had molested children.

Santorum attended Penn State and once sponsored Sandusky for a “Congressional Angels in Adoption” award. (The sexual abuse allegations had not yet surfaced at the time.)

“That’s sort of an insulting question,” Santorum replied, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. “It’s a ridiculous question, Sir, and I’m not going to answer it. You’re welcome to ask a question. That doesn’t mean I’m going to answer absurd questions.”

Santorum repeated his claim that the president does not care about protecting children, saying “he’s not.”

DuMont later questioned Santorum, a member of the Catholic Church, about the church’s history of covering up sexual abuse by priests.

“My job is not to grade the Catholic Church — it [is] to talk about what I’d do as president of the United States … I am concerned about protecting children,” he said.

Yes, using one of my sister’s favourite quotes: “I hate him with the heat of a thousand suns”. He’s despicable. I heard someone in Puerto Rico saying as soon as he hears Santorum start to speak, he switches it off. Wise man.

That is the new strategy that the Republicans will take this year. If a person asks something that they know their response will not be favorable to the public they will simply deflect it as an insult and refuse to answer the question. SP first started this in the 2008 VP debate and now I notice that Santorum and Gingrich have mastered it for this campaign.

I applaud the reporter for revealing Santorum’s hypocrisy to his audience. Here you have actual incidents of child sexual abuse involving people closely identified with Santorum and he doesn’t want to talk about it. However, he’s perfectly willing to slander the President. Sometimes I just don’t know who I despise more him, Williard or Newt. I find myself alternately rooting for each of them to take the other down to extend the clown show but as soon as the new frontrunner emerges, he reveals himself to be just as vile, if not moreso, than the idiot he replaced. They are all in a feverish race to the bottom.

As exCatholic , The catholic church has never protetected children, the abuse children
they are disgasting all my brothers and sister left the catholic church for thereason
the abuesed children and we have a big problem with that. If Sanitoriom is so concern
about protecting children, then why are ther so many priest abusing children??

Senate Democrats raised more than $5.3 million in February, marking the third straight month in which they raised more than the month before.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) ended February with almost $19 million in the bank. That’s about $3.5 million more than it had one month ago, meaning the committee saved most of what it raised.

Good Morning UT. Thanks for the reminder. Love knowing that Esperanza Spalding with be on as well. You remember that Ms. Spalding performed at the WH for the President and First Lady at least twice to my knowledge, and you could see that the President and FL were so impressed with her.

For our TOD Family, let us all tune in, if we can. Ms. Spalding also was the performer that performed in Norway for the President’s receiving of the Nobel Peace Prize. There is a tape out there somewhere of her performance in Norway. I wish we could find it.
She is quiet an accomplished musician. She impressed POTUS and FLOTUS. Love her and her music. Thanks for the tip, UT.
HZ

Romney has repeatedly endorsed Wyden-Ryan, which he thinks will let him argue in debates with Obama that he favors a bipartisan plan that won’t make future seniors give up Medicare if they don’t want to. Naturally, the White House and many Democrats are furious at Wyden for giving Romney and other Republicans this escape hatch.

But the Romney embrace of Wyden-Ryan is misleading. “The Romney campaign says he’s introducing competition and choice to Medicare ‘along with a bipartisan group of leaders,’ but I’ve never spoken to the governor on this subject,” Wyden told me. “If there are folks on the right who use this as a political shield or cover, they are hurting senior citizens by making it harder to get to a bipartisan agreement.”

I’m furious at Wyden for this. He’s one of my Senators, and I’ve written, emailed on his Senate.gov site, and tweeted him about this. Insurance companies NEVER put the good of people above their profits, so elders will lose in this scenario. Why on this earth would Wyden want to give credibility to a snake like Paul Ryan? I think Wyden is still pissed because PBO did not use his proposal for health insurance reform. He has been in a snit ever since. PLEASE TWEET SENATOR WYDEN @RonWyden

Thanks Judith. I was about to ask how we can help with this, and you gave us the answer. I will tweet him and see if I can e mail or call.
I remember how Wyden came back after election and his attitude seem to have changed.

This is funny. Remember when VPBiden was swearing him in after his re-election and one of Wyden’s sons snatched VPBiden’s card away from VP Biden. Joe had a nice grandfather’s look on his face, but VP Biden retrieved the card. That should have told us how Mr. Wyden was going to start off. Shame on him. We just have to show him some REAL love, and Tweet his backside off.HZ

The Romney campaign released a video Monday calling on what he dubbed the “Gas Hike Trio” to resign. Romney’s “trio” consists of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Energy Secretary Steven Chu and EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. The video is part of a continued warning of Romney’s: that Obama and his advisers want to raise energy costs. The video ends with a clip of Romney saying, “I think it’s time for him to fire his ‘Gas Hike Trio.'”

No rants, just some thoughts. In the past 4 years of watching and listening to the GOP, those running for or holding offices and their enablers, I have one question: where is their service? I have never seen photos, or read stories about their heart-felt service to anyone or anything from the general public. When have they sat by the side of a wounded service person and simply listened? When have they held and comforted the father, mother, grandparent or child, husband or wife who was broken down in grief? When have they served in soup lines, visited and brought help and concern to homeless shelters? Where are their random acts of kindness? Where are their former classmates and teachers who remember them with pride and kindness? Where are the people who look at them with eyes shinning with hope? Where are the people who have stood a little taller after being in their presence? They have no affirming answers because they are empty and they have no desire to learn and to do better. They do not understand that leadership is all about service; that success is measured in how positively we affect the lives of others. I thank God every day that we have a President who has spent all of his adult life in service to others. Those who spoke of his time as a community organizer with a sneer and with ignorance, do not understand what true greatness is. Our president is community organizing the world mostly be simply being who he has always been. People around the world trust him because they have seen that he means what he says and that he values all people. We are living in a transformative, evolutionary and revolutionary time around the world, led, in part, by a man who understands deeply the connectedness of service and leadership.

Thanks for your insight, Ceb. When those freaks made fun of PBO organizing people’s cares, they proved that they were not of God, as they so claim. Far from it. They have no clue what it means to be like Jesus, their supposed Saviour. They are vile hypocrites and I am being kind in my condemnation of them here. And that goes for all the so-called black leaders who claim they need to hold PBO “accountable” when they themselves would never dare get dirt under their slick nails to enhance the life of anyone. They do only what will reap them monetary benefit, notoriety, and unearned power. Would that I could, they would all be at the bottom of the depths of hell by now.

Hi edp4bho, you have spoken what I am feeling this morning. I read something before going to bed last evening, and I was moved in my spirit to read something further on the topic. Now hearing your comments, speaks so much truth. This is truth, and we will continue to be faithful in our prayers, meditation of thoughts in lifting POB and VPBiden up daily, because there are so many ugly people showing us daily hypocritical deeds against POB and so many helpless people who do not have the BIG money men and women to go before the Congress and wheel and deal for them. Just plain and simple.

However, we have two men in the WH who are working on the behalf of ALL the people, and are truly looking out for the middle-class who have suffered the most in all of this mess. So let us call it like it is, as you have done, and continue to work our butts off to re-elect POB and Joe Biden. I am working hard ,and I will not stop doing so.

God Bless our President and VP today, and give them wisdom, protection, and compassion in handling all that comes across their desks today. God, give them Your favor, your gentle and firm spirit, and your abundance of right from wrong in dealing with the needs of the people. We humbly ask for your grace today, Father. Help us to be of a kind, gentle, aware, and informed spirit., May we act upon our intelligence on this site, have a respectfulness to this beautiful gift, and share our disagreements in love always. We are all different, and we walk in different shoes that are in many cases not chosen by us, but we will wear them with love, respect, and heart to make a difference in this world for all people. in all that we do to support this wonderful gift in our President, let us remember to be thankful for Your grace to all of us. Please be gracious to us, Lord.Amen.HZ

That is the truth. When Nate Siliver and others in the media breathlessly report that “Romney has won” such and and such a caucus, you would think he’s running against Abe Lincoln! Just few months ago, Santorum was a “2%-er” fringe nutjob that everyone expected to drop out of the race well before Cain, Bachman and Hunstman.

In Puerto Rico GOP primary only about 130,000 voters; in 2008 300,000+ voted in Democratic Primary. What media is generally trying to ignore is that GOP enthuasiasm and participation in 2012 primaries and caucuses is down compared to 2008 (except SC). No surprise since the candidates are all so miserable.

My question is why do they keep polling this question? Do they poll whether or not Mormonism is considered a “Christian Faith”? No! They need to get off this stuff and stop looking for a salacious headline. Why should we as a Nation care what religion our sitting President is? Has he ever shown during his 4 years in office any propensity to show favor over one faith or the other? This crap makes me sick and it needs to stop and the media is just as complicit as anything on this subject.

It may, but I don’t think that’s the pollsters/MSM’s goal though. I think their goal is to push an “Obama as the other” narrative. As donna said, I am very curious as to why they aren’t doing the same thing for Mitt Romney. I have some idea why but it’s a question worth asking. Why do they keep bringing this up – when it is already well known. The media is actively fomenting racial and cultural divisiveness and Xenobia by constantly polling these questions about President Obama when they aren’t doing the same for Mitt Romney.

That’s my point. The media keeps driving this mess to keep the notion alive that our President is considered an “OTHER”. The people who actually think this way will NEVER vote for him so why keep asking them this foolishness?

I’ll answer my own question:

It’s to expand it beyond just the crazies. You see they keep in out there so that this “doubt” will creep into other’s minds as well. Thereby lowering his approval so that this race will stay close and they can keep making money doing polls and pontificating on cable.

Donna dem 4 obama, you hit the nail on the head. But we are stronger in our numbers, and that strength is growing, I believe daily. We are working for the “rightness of the problems that we are facing”, and I do believe that we will prevail in Nov. 2012.

We stay close together, we work our butts off, we cry and pray hard ,when it hurts like heck, and we move on in that “sweet stillness” and see the miracles come through one at a time.

Some said in 2008 that, “That One”……., BUT “That One” was blessed and went all the way to the Oval Office even under such a mess that was created by these same offenders. We Will PRESSON like our dear TOD Family member, Bobfr said. PRESSON. HZ

Excellent comment, Donna dem 4 Obama! The fact that the media keeps asking these stupid questions about the President’s religion and birthplace suggests to low information voters that these are serious questions. Besides, why this question about the President’s religion? Article VI of the constitution explicitly states: “no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.” The last time I checked, this clause had never been amended to now require a religious test as qualification to be president.

Honestly who gives a dam what these Republicans think about our President. Where is the question the pollster don’t have the guts to ask, do you dislike, wait a minute, do you hate the President because he is Black? Why don’t they ask that question?

Exactly! all these other questions and answers about religion and birthplace are, in my humble opinion, nothing but smoke screen, to hide the real issue they are mad about, which is: “Do you think a black person should be President of the United States?”

In the last few weeks, ThinkProgress has been documenting studies by political science professors Keith Poole and Howard Rosenthal that show Republicans are both beholden to the 1 percent and responsible for the hyper-polarization of Congress. A new study by Poole has found that Republicans have moved so far to the right that the House is now the most conservative it has even been in the last 133 years.

My husband says he saw a report this morning (and no, he doesn’t watch Fox) that Bush had outraised PBO by four times the amount for the same time period in his reelection campaign. I googled it and couldn’t find anything. Anyone know anything about this?

Okay I love my husband but I don’t know what he saw: I just checked the 2004 numbers for Bush in February 2004 and it was about $13M. I don’t know how the breakdown was with the party, which are lumped into PBO’s totals. Something is screwy, and it could easily be my husband’s braIn.

Bush raised a ton of money from Big OIL etc. I don’t think it’s in PBO’s or any politician’s favor in 2012 to boast that his fundraising money is coming from big OIL – regardless of the amount. Furthermore, I’m not sure what the point of comparing Bush’s fundraising in 2004 with Obama’s in 2012 is.

That has very little to no bearing on the outcome of this year’s election. President Obama is not running against Bush in 2004 or Senator Obama in 2008. He’s running against Romney in 2012.

It’s possible when factoring in his big oil donors from Texas shelling out millions for his reelection. Also It’s important to take into account that John Kerry had already been proclaimed the democratic nominee at this point in 2004, and that meant each side was laser focused on the general election.

I believe it was part of an article in the Washington Post yesterday. Apparently this is where the jackals are getting their Monday Morning Talking Point about the lack of big donor donations.

It said something about Bush getting 4 times the big donors when he was a sitting President as PBO has.

With all that our President has had to do to clean up the mess that GWB left us the media should be ashamed of themselves to make this comparison. It’s an insult to even mention this. Yes Bush had Wall Street and Big Oil donating tons of money to him because he let them lead us economically off the cliff.

PBO has put the brakes on to their shenanigans and therefore their allegiance is to Romney. Big Deal! When all that big donor money dries up PBO will be able to go back to his millions of small donors and ask over and over again and we will dig deeper and deeper each time to help propel him to a second term.

See, I think this is actually a positive point. It nmeans Bush was more beholden to the big money, whereas PBO is more beholden to the “little” people (and I don’t mean leprechauns). A good PR man or woman could taske this and run with it.

I think that they are leaving out one of the main ingredients as Donna Dem pointed out. Remember, POB is not running against GW in 2012 , but he is running in a climate where there is still so much mess from GW that has been left for POB to try to clean up, that the water is very muddy, BUT they will never place the responsibility where it belongs, GW. So all of those Big oil men have their billions, and POB is trying to clean the crap up and still try to stay above the fray.

The deeds of a righteous man will prevail at some point, and this will be our point. the wicked man will not go on forever, trust me.

We will hold tight to what we know that we have, by his deeds these last 3 years, and continue to work hard, and we will make it.

Yes, this stuff hurts like hell, but that is why we have each other here to be viligant with our information, get out the good information, and try as hard as we can to support in any decent manner to help POB each day to bring this win on. This fight is not even started yet. Remember to stay firm and be watchful in all things.HZ

“Why do they run reports like this?” I think the obvious answer, gobrooklyn, is that the media are trying to spread the propaganda that President Obama has lost support. Their goal is to try to discourage people from supporting him. I don’t know about any one else but every time I read these manufactured negative reports I make more effort to forgo spending on minor things and instead donate the money to the President’s re-election. I figure that if a million of us strong supporters of the President donated at least $20.00-$50.00 a month we can, to a very great extent, nullify the power of the big money donors.

Republicans always say they want to get the federal government out of education. This comes in many forms, but usually they say something like “education should be returned to local control” or “I’ll eliminate the Department of Education.” They always avoid talking about union-busting because union-busting is not always especially popular. Wisconsin’s Governor Walker can attest to that.

Romney, in a rare moment of transparency, told Bret Baier that the reason for returning control of education to the states is for one reason: to union-bust.

But the role I see that ought to remain in the president’s agenda with regards to education is to push back against the federal teachers unions. Those federal teachers unions have too much power, in some cases, they overwhelm the states, they overwhelm the local school districts. We have got to put the kids first and put these teacher’s unions behind.

Unfortunately, lieing works. And simply because there is so much detail in this, a simple lie has more impact than a more detailed explanation of the truth. If a Dem lied about the Republican policy, it is easier to debunk for the Republicans because they follwo three simple rules when setting out a policy:

1. Do not use words with more than 2 syllables.
2. Do not use any concrete numbers.
3. Use so much makeup on the pig, that people can’t see the pig that is the policy.

Perfect example is Romney pushing his tax plan. Several analyses pointed out that it would actually increase the deficit. His response was that they can’t really score the plan because he didn’t specify which loopholes he would close, thereby debubnking the “lie.”

TOD we had better prepare ourselves because the negative ads that those Republican Super PAC’s are going to throw at us are going to be the worse that have ever been seen before.

I have never understood the public’s reaction to negative ads. They all complain about how awful they are but every campaign will tell you the reason they do them is because statistics show that they work.

Supposedly they turn off Independents but it didn’t turn them off in the mid-term elections. Then is this campaign, Romney has been carpet bombing Santorum and Gingrich whenever they get a lead in a state that he feels he should win and every time he either closes the gap or wins the state outright. Why is that? What is the psychology behind all that negativity moving someone to change their vote? Is it fear?

I could never imagine changing my vote based on a nasty negative ad. It’s just not in my DNA.

Negative ads are like mud thrown against the wall….some of it always sticks to the wall….it is like good news vs bad news….bad news tends to spread faster and lasts longer in the minds of folks…and most folks do not debunk..meaning that they do not investigate….and then there are those folks who choose to believe what they believe despite evidence to the contrary……hence the question about the President’s religion….

I don’t get people who are influenced by negative ads either. I think it’s because the majority of voters are not inclined/don’t have time to keep up with facts of a campaign. And this constant barrage of negative ads—–2 or 3 at every station break on every network—–affects people over time, whether subconsciously or not. They were just talking about Romney’s 9 to 1 spending in Illinois and how that has spiked his polls. It is frightening how big money is going to be the big player in this presidential election, thank you Supreme Court. I think it is really important to contribute to Burton’s Priorities USA superpac so he will be able to help in the pushback of all the nasty lies that will be aired.

I don’t think the negative ads will work as well for Romney in the general election. Just a few things:

1. The amount of money that Romney is spending in negative ads far outweighs the increase in votes that he gets – and that is for losers like Santorum and Gingrich. His return on investment will be much, much lower when it comes to Barack Obama.

2. The mid-terms were a very different animal from the general election in so many respects. How many people knew about all those obscure house reps? And many of the Dems that lost were wishy-washy, blue dogs in swing states. Obama was not on the ballot. And the Dems who ran away from Obama and HCR typically LOST their respective races (e.g., Feingold).

3. President Obama is going to debate Mitt Romney THREE TIMES in front of the whole country (and whole damn world for that matter) and expose all his lies, flip-flops, pro Wall Street, anti-union, anti-black, anti-Latino, anti-women, anti-immigrant, anti-college student and anti-senior citizen polcies – something that the media and Karl Rove will be unable to spin.

In judging the effectiveness of Romney’s negative ads, carpetbombing the airwaves, it is important to realize that none of these candidates has any ground game so no person-to-person counter to the ads. What OFA is doing that is so important is organizing the community with people able to push back against the lies. They also preparing effective counters on all the social media fronts (AttackWatch etc). The media for the most part ignores community organizing (now and in 2008). This election is really about people power versus the moneyed elites.

Finally, Santorum not only scares moderate and pragmatic Republicans, but many hardcore conservatives here who know him aren’t cheering him on.

Several who spoke to me on background reflected the views of Ryan Shafik.
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“Real conservatives know he’s a social conservative, not an economic one,” says Shafik, who was a Santorum intern when Santorum was in the Senate. “He voted against right-to-work, he voted to expand government, he voted to increase spending, he delivered more pork than Hatfield Meats and he backed Arlen Specter in the primary against Pat Toomey [in 2004].”

It feels good to be back (since last night ;) ) A ‘Good Morning” to Chips Chica, and all TODobots! A special ‘good morning’ to Obama Grandmama at whatever point she’s at right now. Hoping for a beautiful day for all! VC

A “super PAC” that has spent more than $35 million on behalf of Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has accepted donations from federal contractors despite a 36-year-old ban against such companies making federal political expenditures.

At least five companies with government contracts gave a combined $890,000 to Restore Our Future, the pro-Romney super PAC, a review of federal contracting records and campaign finance data shows.

Other super PACs, including Republican-allied American Crossroads, and Priorities USA Action, which backs President Barack Obama, have language on their websites warning that federal contractors are not allowed to make donations.

This whole thing is so ripe with corruption. I don’t even know if they can tell if foreign countries are donating to these Super PAC’s. This Citizen United ruling was the absolute worse thing to ever happen to our politics.

DF, my concern meter is off the chart with these bozo’s deciding on ACA’s healthcare mandate. This is basically a conservative court. Justice Kennedy is usually the deciding vote and he generally sides with them on really important issues so I have to admit that I am a nervous ninny about this decision.

I trust the President and his legal team so I am praying for a positive outcome.

It’s kinda funny that I don’t want to age, yet each time I refresh and see the 231 days until….. I have the quick thought ‘Hey, that’s the same as last time. It isn’t moving!’ ;) Time is going way too slowly towards the election and way too fast towards my next birthday.

But I do know I enjoy watching Republicans flinch every time the administration makes even a feint in this direction. They have richly earned their distress, having engaged in the most shameful demagoguery on gas prices since at least 2008, implying (a) it is the greatest of all economic problems for the country; that (b) the president can and must act upon immediately, today, yesterday! Sure, if and when Obama acts with the one mechanism he actually controls, the SPR, they will say, as they are already beginning to say preemptively: That’s Not What We Meant! Approve Keystone XL! Abolish EPA! Resign! This makes their rhetoric consistent, at least, with the closely related conservative rap on Iran: Danger! Mullahs! Nukes! Oil Supplies! Let’s blow up the region before something bad happens!

They usually don’t. This is most likely Mexican paparazzi. Maybe they didn’t know the Obamas requested no pics be taken of the girls when they are not with their parents. But whatever paps are paps they don’t really care about boundaries just getting the shot and making a little money.

But I did think it was funny that she was taking a pic of the pap taking a pic of her.

This makes me angry. They are only supposed to photograph the girlls when they are with their parents. She and her friends, none of whom are adults, should not have their privacy invaded. I’ll bet her parents are going to be p o.

The Empowerment Movement was reportedly launched with the support of the AME Church, Rep. Elijah Cummings, members of the Congressional Black Caucus, the NAACP, and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights under Law.

According to the press release, “Their mission is a massive undertaking, with a goal to register one million voters on one day, Easter, April 8, 2012, making Guinness World Book history for democracy, by challenging every black church in the United States to register 20 people on that day.”

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder pledged to use the Voting Rights Act against any attacks to deny Americans access to the ballot box. Holder spoke at the LBJ Library in Austin on “Protecting our Democracy, Protecting the Right to Vote” and called voting rights a legal and moral imperative. President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law in August 1965.

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One final area for reform that merits our strongest support is the growing effort – which is already underway in several states – to modernize voter registration. Today, the single biggest barrier to voting in this country is our antiquated registration system. According to the Census Bureau, of the 75 million adult citizens who failed to vote in the last presidential election, 60 million of them were not registered and, therefore, not eligible to cast a ballot.

All eligible citizens can and should be automatically registered to vote. The ability to vote is a right – it is not a privilege. Under our current system, many voters must follow cumbersome and needlessly complex voter registration rules. And every election season, state and local officials have to manually process a crush of new applications – most of them handwritten – leaving the system riddled with errors, and, too often, creating chaos at the polls.

Fortunately, modern technology provides a straightforward fix for these problems – if we have the political will to bring our election systems into the 21st century. It should be the government’s responsibility to automatically register citizens to vote, by compiling – from databases that already exist – a list of all eligible residents in each jurisdiction. Of course, these lists would be used solely to administer elections – and would protect essential privacy rights.

HAVING WORKED A HUGE AMOUNT OF VOTER REGISTRATION IN 2008…I FRANKLY DON’T UNDERSTAND HOW PEOPLE CAN ENTER SOME OF THE INFO. INTO DATABASE BECAUSE MANY OF THE FORMS ARE DIFFICULT TO READ OR THE VOTER’S HANDWRITING IS DIFFICULT TO TRANSLATE…HOW DO WE SOLVE THESE PROBLEMS?

I totally agree. It’s infuriating that we have so many different means of voting in the states. But if the American people can do their banking securely online then there has to be a way to make voting easy and safe too. It is embarrassing that we are using such antiquated voting procedures. The problem is that one party wants the democratic process to work for all Americans and the other party is doing everything in their power to disenfranchise particular voters (African Americans, Latinos, students, seniors). It’s against everything we stand for. But ironically, it’s going to take voting to get the changes we so desperately need implemented.

CHIPS! Hey Chips! I’ve flipped back and forth about 15 times in the last 15 minutes trying to catch you in the act of posting the new thread. Hurry up will you? It’s difficult to catch up on my reading of today’s comments when I can’t concentrate because I’m trying to anticipate you on the next thread!!! :roll::roll:

Love it, DF. You lifted our spirits. Now, I better get up and get a shower hoping to wet this body and calm this awful pain that is raking over my gut this morning. I know one reason, but I will not be dismayed in my journey today.

We have work to do. I love the sign DF. Fun thoughts. Enjoy you time off and make your day a beautiful one, DF. Love you,HZ